Sourdough English Muffins on the Griddle

I love English muffins. They are so good toasted and buttered or spread with jam.

Some of my favorite ways to eat English muffins are as part of a breakfast sandwich, as a base for a quick mini pizza, and for an open faced tuna melt. The tuna melt especially brings back memories of my sister and me hanging out together with our new babies and spending the day together (and maybe watching Days of Our Lives or All My Children while our babies were napping). Creating those tuna melts was about as "fancy" as we could get while juggling babies on our hips. The tuna melts were especially good with potato chips and dill pickles....


... and this is my new favorite English muffin recipe. Yes, I know. The last time I made English muffins, I told you I had found the perfect recipe. I still love that recipe, but it requires owning English muffin rings, a specialty item that not everyone, except "certain bread geeks who shall remain nameless," own.

Amazingly, the dough is not particularly liquid, yet it produces light and airy muffins that can be fork split. On the first day, they are so soft and light, you could even use them as dinner rolls.

You actually roll this dough with a rolling pin and cut the muffins out with a three inch cookie cutter. The muffins rise like crazy on the griddle, so much so that I topped the rising muffins with parchment and sheet pans for about two minutes to keep them from getting too tall while cooking on the first side (see the third photo down on this post). This step is not necessary.

These English muffins contain sourdough, which makes them particularly flavorful. You can use either a fed or unfed sourdough starter, as long as it is 100% hydration. This recipe is perfect for using up the extra sourdough you normally have to throw away when feeding your starter.

These muffins are so amazingly light! Split them with a fork, toast them up, and pat yourself on the back for making some of the best English muffins you have ever tasted.

If you don't have a sourdough starter or English muffin rings, but still want to try making English muffins give this recipe from a prior post a try. It's almost as good as this one.

After the recipe, check out the huge list of links to what all of the other #BreadBakers have created for this month's theme, griddle breads. The talent represented in this list is amazing.

Sourdough English Muffins

Yield: 32 muffins, adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

7/8 ounces sugar

16 ounces warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)

1 tablespoon instant yeast

8 1/2 ounces sourdough starter, fed or unfed, 100% hydration

1 pound, 13 3/4 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 ounces nonfat dry milk (I used King Arthur Flour's Special Dry)

2 ounces room temperature butter

1 tablespoon salt

cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting

Instructions

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except the cornmeal/semolina, into the bowl of a stand mixer, mixing on second speed until the dough comes together, about seven minutes. It should be smooth. 
2. Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, one to two hours. 
3. Turn the dough out onto your work surface, and divide it in two. Cover the second piece with plastic wrap, and roll the first half out to 1/2 inch thick. Cover and let relax for a few minutes. Re-roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. 
4. Sprinkle sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. 
5. Using an oiled three inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Place the rounds onto the sheet pans, and sprinkle the tops with the cornmeal/semolina. Cover with plastic wrap.
6. Continue to work with the dough, rewrapping the scraps to make more rounds. Repeat with the other half of the dough. 
7. Let the muffins rise for about 45 to 60 minutes. 
8. Preheat a griddle or ungreased frying pan to 350 degrees F. 
9. Transfer the muffins, in shifts, to the hot griddle or frying pan and cook approximately 15 minutes per side, until the interior reaches about 185 degrees F. Cool on a wire rack.

These muffins will stay fresh about 3 or 4 days kept in an airtight container. Individually wrap extras and place in a freezer bag to keep longer. 

Griddle Breads

• Amaranth (Rajgira) Paratha from Herbivore Cucina
• Cheese and Potato Gözleme from Cook's Hideout
• Corn Pancakes from Magnolia Days
• Cornmeal Griddle Cakes from Noshing With The Nolands
• English Muffins from La cocina de Aisha
• Fruity Hemp Seed Pancakes from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Griddle Scones from Hostess At Heart
• Homemade Corn Tortillas from Kylee Cooks
• Lachha Paratha - Indian Layered Flatbread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Masala Poli - Spicy Potato Masala Stuffed Poli from I Camp in my Kitchen
• Masala Roti from Sneha's Recipe
• Paneer Kulchas - Griddle Fried Cottage Cheese Flatbread from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Paruppu Poorana Poli from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Peanut Butter and Apple Griddle Cakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Phool Makhana Parathas (Puffed Lotus Seeds Parathas) from Seduce Your Tastebuds
• Saffron Unleavened Bread from Kidsandchic
• Satpadi - Spiced Griddle Bread from Spiceroots
• Sourdough English Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spicy Loli - Breakfast Flatbread from Food Lust People Love
• Spinach and Feta Gözleme from Spill the Spices
• Stacked Apple Arepas from The Schizo Chef
• Staffordshire Oatcakes with a Bacon & Cheese Filling from Ruchik Randhap
• Stove-Top Muffins (Diphaphata) from Wholistic Woman
• Swedish Polar Bread from G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Vitumbua (Coconut Rice Pancake Balls) from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Welsh Cakes from Passion Kneaded
• Yeast Raised Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Pastry Chef Online

 #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.